Future of 35mm film cameras (AD 2013)

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gqtuazon

Gear Head
I must admit, I was just a casual film shooter before and I have a whole bunch of pictures that I still need to scan and convert to digital. I just don't see myself going into the trouble of having a film developed just to "see" what they look like and see if it is worth keeping.

With digital, you get instant gratification, delete the ones that you do not like, do HDR for some who likes that, but I guess I'm not saying anything new that you guys don't know already. :confused:
 
R

RON_RIP

Senior Member
Held unto my film cameras for a while but the lure of controlling my image from inception to final print,with relative ease, has finally pulled me firmly into the digital camp.
 
sunwharf

sunwharf

Senior Member
Or if someone did a digital back for my F3 I'd use it all the time. It's still the best handling 35mm SLR camera ever made, in my opinion.

Forget AF I'm not bothered but do like the immediacy of digital.

I now do more digital than film because I can see straight away if I've screwed up.
 
E

Eye-level

Banned
Well they did sir...there is a digital back for the F3...together the unit is considered to be the first DSLR...it was 1 MP and B&W I think...LOL

BUT it was revolutionary!!!
 
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STM

Senior Member
Eye-level said:
I might buy a sticky for this thread just so we can check and see what film costs as the years go by...

I am giving it 5 years max...and in 3 you will have to send it off to a handful of places to get it processed. IMO.
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As long as I can still find D-76, Dektol, Stop Bath, Fixer, Hypo Clearing agent and Photo Flo I will be happy!
 
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stvn

Senior Member
Thank you for all your comments, very interesting.
I must say however that after following the prices on that famous online auction site for quality 35mm bodies and quality lens' that 35mm is far from dead.
The prices for F, F2's, FM2's, FM3A is far from cheap and consistantly reaching very good prices as are the ai, ais lens'.
I realise that I am only looking at a small percentage of the 35mm genre, but the market at this level is, I must say very strong. I would love to add a FM3A to my collection but they are constantly over £300 just for the body.
I have only recently ventured back into film after years of using digital but I find it much more rewarding, I think it is primarly because digital is too clinical and characterless. Yes you get a good picture everytime but digital has no soul (IMHO).
Each to their own but for fun days out it will be 35mm for me all the way.
 
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crashton

Senior Member
Re: Future of 35mm film cameras (AD 2013) & a bit of thread drift....

STM said:
As long as I can still find D-76, Dektol, Stop Bath, Fixer, Hypo Clearing agent and Photo Flo I will be happy!
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Those were the days. I wonder how many gallons of that stuff I've mixed over the years & how many thousand feet of TriX I've rolled, then shot.

I developed a sensitivity to darkroom chemicals after many years of using them. Sadly I had to give up my darkroom. Started having a local lab soup my negatives & scan them onto a disk. That worked, but I had continual problems with the lab scratching the negatives. It was so frustrating that I stopped shooting for a while.

The holy grail of a digital film cartridge that would drop in to the back of my Nikon looked promising, but never materialized. Then digital cameras started becoming available. No megabuck Kodak DSLR's for me. Just a little Canon S20. It was a crappy camera that took photos & didn't need film processing. I was happy to be shooting pictures again.

Fast forward a year or so & I bought my first DLSR. A Fuji S1 Pro, aka Frankencamera. Remember those? A Nikon N60 with Fuji guts jammed inside. Since I still had my Nikon film kit all of those lenses were usable on the Fuji. I was in Hog heaven. Been though a few DSLR's over the years & now I have a D7000. Possibly a D7100 in a few months.

Sorry about the thread drift..... :eek:

I miss my old film cameras & hope film keeps being made for a long time to come. I have my doubts about that though.

My only film camera is my Dad's Nikon FE.
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
Last time i shot film was 11 years ago! I really don't miss it. Digital is just so much more practical and cheapper. Went into my fav camera shop this past weekend and the last roll of film he sold was about 3 years ago. I could not even tell you were to get film now - maybe the drug store? I remember when CDs came out and that was the end of vinyl as the standard, ecept for DJs, lol. Then tapes started to dissapear and now CDs are slowly going away. About a year ago, my sister offered me her Canon SLR to use. I kind of looked at her as if she had two heads! I have a DSLR, why on earth would i punish my self with a SLR? Anyhow, i just politely said thanks for the offer, lol. I know some people still shoot film around here. Bu, i think for the most part, it's dead and will not make a resurection.
 
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Sandpatch

Senior Member
STM said:
As long as I can still find D-76, Dektol, Stop Bath, Fixer, Hypo Clearing agent and Photo Flo I will be happy!
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I remember those days with great happiness. My Dad built a fine darkroom in the basement for my brother, but I got to use it too. I bought Plus-X in bulk and "rolled my own" film cartridges to save money.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
I've put in a roll of 120 portra 400 in the Yashica I bought last week. Let's see how long it takes me to finish this roll. It will have to be a planned picture for sure.

I found a place that does developing and scanning as well so I'll see how it compares with my digital toys.
 
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stvn

Senior Member
Marcel said:
I've put in a roll of 120 portra 400 in the Yashica I bought last week. Let's see how long it takes me to finish this roll. It will have to be a planned picture for sure.

I found a place that does developing and scanning as well so I'll see how it compares with my digital toys.
Click to expand...

Welcome back from the dark side, may the force be with you :cool:
 
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Photowyzard

Photowyzard

Senior Member
I have a Nikon F5 and a recently purchased Nikon FM2n.

Took a 35mm roll of 24 from the F5 in on Saturday, will pick it up tomorrow night! :)

Took about 4 months to shoot! My biggest problem is the weight, I have a ton of gear I typically carry and the F5 simply adds to the weight. Since I don't use it enough, often times, it doesn't travel with me.

I am planning to shoot a roll every 3 months, just for the hell of it. Cost with processing included is about $9, cheap enough that it is worth the nostalgic feelings and I get two use two great cameras in the process.
 
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stvn

Senior Member
I admire your restraint. Once I've popped in my 24 exposure film I am like a kid in a candy shop and shoot the whole roll in a day. The whole experience from carefully taking the pictures and then waiting to get them back from the developers, I feel is worth every penny.
As a father to two teenagers it is a great way to have some quality 'me' time.
 
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STM

Senior Member
stvn said:
I admire your restraint. Once I've popped in my 24 exposure film I am like a kid in a candy shop and shoot the whole roll in a day. The whole experience from carefully taking the pictures and then waiting to get them back from the developers, I feel is worth every penny.
As a father to two teenagers it is a great way to have some quality 'me' time.
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If I am shooting 35mm and have bulk TX around, I will load any number of frames, from 12 to about 40 (which I can squeeze into a 36 exp cassette if I use a short leader and wind until the film just contacts both sets of sprocket teeth before closing the back). That is the nice thing about bulk, it is a WHOLE lot cheaper than buying it in commercially available lengths and you have the flexibility of how much you want to shoot. With 120, it is not as big an issue because all of my backs except 1 are A16's so I don't have to worry about having too many frames to shoot on one roll. I prefer the A16 to the A12 back because it gives me more frames per roll and since I have masked off my Hasselblad focusing screen with electrical tape to emulate the 6x4.5 format, I have more control over cropping.
 
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STM

Senior Member
Marcel said:
I've put in a roll of 120 portra 400 in the Yashica I bought last week. Let's see how long it takes me to finish this roll. It will have to be a planned picture for sure.

I found a place that does developing and scanning as well so I'll see how it compares with my digital toys.
Click to expand...

If you want to do more, you can still find chemistry kits from Unicolor. They are powder kits rather than the liquid kits we were used to, which means they have a much longer shelf life. I am REALLY tempted to get back into this and process my own Ektar and Porta stuff again. A water bath in a 16 x 20 tray works just fine to keep the chemistry at the proper temperatures.

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/c1000-Color-Chemicals
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
I remembered this thread on Saturday when i went to the drug store. I went to pay for my items and right there, in front of the cash, were boxes of film!! Though, i have nothing to put it in now :(
 
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ktan7

Senior Member
I'm a film photographer and I love the look and feel of film. Will never shoot digital again and will always pay a good lab to get my photographs developed properly. It is just simply classic. Hopefully, there are more labs staying in business!
 
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